Written by J. Mitchell Brown
Photography by Donna Huffman
enerally, I would say that I am somewhat a smart guy. I did fair to middling in school, in business and college. My performance reviews always said that I could wrap my mind around new concepts easily and though I don’t always show it, I have pretty good common sense. I will rarely, if ever, try to feign knowledge about a particular subject when I know I am clearly out of my league. More often than not, in fact, when I am in an environment that is out of my realm of comprehension, you will usually see me standing there bug-eyed and slack-jawed as my slow brain tries to keep up with the speeding bullet-train of information.
I am sure that that is how I appeared to Bluffton’s orchid lady, Mrs. Madeline Nelson, when I stopped by to visit her recently.
This was not the first time I had been by Miss Madeline’s greenhouses on Confederate Street. I had known about her for years and whenever I needed a special gift for someone, I would swing by and get a beautiful orchid that would be sure to lift anyone’s spirits.
After being greeted quite vociferously by her dog Zelda and her granddog Sophie, Miss Madeline came out of her house and quelled my quivering by assuring me the dogs were loud but harmless. (Mind you, there’s no sneaking up on to the greenhouses for a sneak-peek, because Zelda will make your presence known!) As we made our way into the greenhouse, chatting pleasantries, I was waiting for the right time to ask the one question that I had come to ask, “How did you get started?” It was a little while before I got around to asking it, though, because I was taken by the same affect that gets me every time I enter these greenhouses: awe.
When you first step into the warm, humid air of the greenhouses at May River Orchids, you can’t help but be amazed by the sea of thousands of orchids stretched out in front of you. Tall, slender spikes are popping up everywhere, pointing this way and that. Long, otherworldly roots are hanging down beneath the tables and drooping out of pots. Smooth and pointed leaves sprout from the plastic containers like shocks of tussled hair. And bolts of vibrant rich colors of orchids in bloom splash throughout this ocean of green. I was so lost in awe of these plants that Miss Madeline could have been reading me my last rites and I would not have known it.
As I turned back to Madeline to get down to the business at hand, my eye was caught by a particular little plant that I knew then and there was going to have to go home with me. In a small 4 inch pot was a beautiful three-leaved orchid that was begging me to adopt it. On top of a dark purple-brown stem two yellow blooms with purple veins opposed each other like butterflies in a tug of war. Three more buds promised me more excitement to come. I marked its location and turned to Madeline to ask her the only thing I really knew to ask: “How did you get started in this,” my arms sweeping across the breadth of the greenhouse.
The fascinating answer of my simple question, “How did you get started?” reveals just how passionate Madeline is of her plants. Keep in mind we are standing in a greenhouse that is steps from her house and filled with thousands of various orchids and other exotic plants. Her answer was uncomplicated and pure: “Someone gave me an orchid 17 years ago.”
I stared at her waiting for the rest of the answer, nervous that she may have had some sort of an attack, stopping short like that and all. Slowly, my brain caught up with what I was just told. “You mean to tell me that all this,” I blindly swept behind me with my right arm again, “was started based of the gift on an orchid?” I hoped I didn’t sound incredulous. I was amazed.
“Yes. I fell in love with that plant. And one thing led to another.”
That “one thing to another” is... May River Orchids. In seventeen years, Madeline and her husband Dan, have created a viable business, filled three greenhouses with plants, won 17 American Orchid Society (AOS) awards (no small feat, as I have learned through research) and successfully hybridized several original species of orchids. (Incidentally, when Madeline was telling me about hybridizing her original species, I asked her if she had them registered. She laughed and said, “No.” I asked her why and she said, “I’m lazy.” I looked around at the greenhouses and scoffed, “Yeah. You’re a real stick in the mud.” The fact is she won an AOS award on a plant she cross-hybridized. She did not register it and later learned that another gentleman registered the same variety. He didn’t win an award on his!)
I went on to hear about the hundreds of different genus there are, the thousands and thousands of species. I learned about how they manually pollinate the flowers and harvest the seed pods. She explained to me how they cultivate the millions of seeds that a single plant may generate, and what a heartbreaker it is to wait for six or eight weeks to find out that the seeds you have are not viable. We discussed how many years it takes to grow a saleable orchid, the blooming seasons of orchids, and the interesting fact that orchids can be found on every continent except Antarctica.
That simple question not only rendered a simple answer that I never anticipated, but it opened a floodgate of information that left me drowning in the whitewater of my own ineptitude. When I say Mrs. Madeline Nelson knows her stuff when it comes to orchids, I don’t just say it for flattery’s sake. In our brief time together, Madeline saw that deer-in-the-headlights look from me more than once, and I had to keep reminding myself to keep my mouth from falling agape at her explanations and answers that were sometimes filled with long, multi-syllabic Latin words.
And the great thing is, Madeline was not doing anything to show off or be pretentious. I never felt she was condescending. Rather, Madeline was educating me about her passion. And I’m not using that word lightly. When I asked her how blessed she felt her life was to be able to do this (again with the dramatic sweeping arm motion), Madeline replied, “I thank God every morning I get up for a new day, and then I come in here and thank him for this. Every time I come through this door, it’s like the first time.”
I have enough information available that I could sit here and act like I know what I’m talking about when it comes to orchids. But the fact is, I only know enough to be dangerous. What I do know is, the little orchid that caught my eye is home with me now. That it is a hybrid Phalaenopsis ‘Red Dragon’ x Phalaenopsis ‘Golden Sunshine’ is fascinating to me.
Visit Madeline Nelson, Bluffton’s Orchid Lady, and her army of orchids at May River Orchids, 122 Confederate Avenue in Bluffton. If you want a beautiful plant that is easy to care for, beautiful to look at, and continues to bloom for extended periods of time, you owe it to yourself to check her greenhouses out. But be careful, Madeline’s passion is infectious.
